Bridging the gap in agriculture

In what should be a welcome move, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo was earlier reported as saying that the central bank is looking at the possibility of including housing loans as an alternative mode of compliance to the Agri-Agra Reform Credit Act, which compels banks to set aside 25 percent of their total loanable funds for the agricultural and agrarian reform sector.

In a report released by the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, the agricultural sector posted an annual growth rate of just 1.9 percent in 2014, much slower than the rates registered by other industries such as manufacturing at 8.1 percent and trade at 6 percent.